This invention relates to a fire protection device. More particularly, the invention relates to a fire extinguishing device for use with a Christmas tree.
It is known that Christmas trees and especially those comprised of a live tree present a fire hazard and devices for detecting a fire condition and either of both sounding an alarm and activating a fire extinguishing material into the tree exist. Some devices are deguised as tree ornaments, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,113,020; 4,075,614; 4,623,878 and 4,709,763, however, these devices simply because of their limited size are limited to being strictly alarms such as a smoke detector or to holding and discharging relatively small quantities of fire extinguishing material which limits their effectiveness. One other effective fire extinguishing device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,171,493 which incorporates a tank of pressurized fire extinguishing material which is ejected to a spray nozzle at the top of the tree upon fusing of a fusable element. While more effective than discreet ornament type devices, the larger exposed tank is esthetically undesirable. Further, it is always desirable to provide for extinguishing devices that provide increased fire extinguishing capability and efficiency which is the primary object of the present invention.